45 borewells sealed, one that killed Fatehveer still open

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, June 12

On the directions of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, as many as 45 borewells have been sealed across the state in the last two days. However, the 125-ft-deep borewell in which two-year-old Fatehveer remained trapped for over 100 hours is still lying open in front of his house at Bhagwanpura village in Sangrur.

This has evoked sharp criticism from area residents. “It shows the non-seriousness of the officials concerned, who have not bothered to cover the borewell from where this all started. How can we expect that the directions of the CM will be carried out in a proper manner?” alleged Karnail Singh, a resident of Bhagwanpura.

Sunam SDM Manjit Kaur could not be contacted, while Tehsildar Gurleen Kaur said Surinderpal Singh, Circle Revenue officer (CRO), had been directed to close the borewell. The latter, however, said the PWD was responsible for the job and he had no information whether the borewell was still open. 

Sangrur Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori said the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of the PWD had been directed to close the borewell near Fatehveer’s house and it would be done at the earliest.

Sangrur remained shut on Wednesday as various organisations continued their protest against the government and demanded action against officers for the failed operation.

Meanwhile in the status report submitted to the Chief Minister, it is stated that 26 borewells were located in Fatehgarh Sahib, 13 each were found in Bassi Pathana and Khera blocks. Another eight were closed in Mansa district, three each in Patiala and Kapurthala, two in Gurdaspur district and one each in Ropar and Hoshiarpur districts.